Acousti Zen cables...

Hi David,
I own both the WOW and Matrix Ref II's. These cables are excellent. Transparent, detailed and powerful yet equally refined and musical. They are one of todays great bargains in audio. There are better cables out there but very few and far between in this price range. The WOW is about 85% as good as the Ref II's but get the Refs if money permits.

I used to own both the WOW and Mat Ref MKII and think the Mat Ref offered quite a bit better extension and detail and had better tone, even though the WOW was quite good the Mat Ref easily bettered it. I ended up with Audience AU24 which has more detail than the Mat Ref and a better bass perspective IMO. I think the AZ cables, good as they are, tend to be slightly bass heavy which is a pet peeve of mine so I went with the Audience which is priced below the Mat Ref too.

Phil, I remember a remark you made not too long ago about Acoustic Zen cables seeming to have forceful bass throughout their line. I've owned or currently use MC2, Silver Ref II, Matrix Ref II and Hologram II and never really thought about that until you mentioned it, and I agree.

I really like AZ cables, but after comparing the Hologram II and Audience AU24 speaker cables for almost five months, I chose the AU24 because of it's much more natural presentation and ability to reveal detail in the midrange and create a more realistic sonic picture.

Now I'm stuck on your comment of "better bass perspective" in reference to the AU24 interconnects. :•)

I would not describe the Matrix II as bass heavy in the least. I would call it "full bass". I like this, because it doesn't have the anemic bass, or the thin, threadbare bass of some other cables.

Sorry Gunbei, you never know what will come out of my mouth, sometimes I babble incoherently :)

Of course (like some of us) I had limited experience with the AZ cables. I listened in 3 different systems. I would still recommend them but I think the Audience AU24 IC is a steal and offers terrific detail and a musical quality I like very much. I think the Hologram is very good, a better deal than the AZ ICs I had in my system. It had a terrific golden glow in the midrange that my current cables (JM Reynaud HP216A) do not quite match. The JMR (bi wire vs Hologram single run) is quite a bit more extended and defined and detailed and has more of a neutral quality. Neutral is in the eyes of the beholder and somtimes is subtractive IMO, not always good. I am babbling again...

I would like to compare the Audience AU24 speaker wire (single run w/jumpers) to the JMR as I have heard it is slightly better than the JMR wire with the Trentes I currently own.

Kevziek, I just thought I always heard bass information as if it were a bump in the frequency response where with the Audience IC I hear the bass come and go and the midrange is more often presented as the focus of the music. Maybe it is my personal bias and I did own a Plinius SA100 MKIII when I had the AZ cables. It is well known for superior bass performance.

I do want to go on record that all my comments are just with limited experience but the best personal record I have.

Phil, I just pulled the trigger on two pairs of AU24 interconnects, so I'll have a chance to compare them head-to-head with the AZ Silver Ref II and Matrix Ref II they will replace. So far, using the Silver Ref II in combination with and upstream of the Matrix Ref II has worked very well for me. It'll be interesting to hear the differences.

I am interested too Gunbei.
I found the AU24 more forward and detailed than Mat Ref MKII in my system. It has a real see into, holographic type quality. Along with the before mentioned bass differences. As with the Hologram speaker wire I found the Mat Ref to have a nice golden quality in the mids. I never owned the Silver Reference MKII but my friend did and he found it compared with the AU24 in overall detail and tone, slightly preferring the AU24 in the end, which as we all know, could go either way with yours or anyone elses system.

BTW David D,

In the AZ line, I ended up thinking that the best deal was a Mat Ref MKI IC that offered much of the performance of the MKII at WOW type prices, which are usually about $150, with quite a step up from the WOW, much closer to the performance of the Mat Ref MKII. Ask if the Mat Ref MKI looks similar to the MKII, if it does it is the latest version of the MKI and better yet. The older Mat Ref had quite a different look without the same locking WBT RCA ends.

I hope this helps...

When comparing Au24 to Silver Ref II, both balanced, as Phil alluded to above, I found them quite comparable, the Au24 allowing better separation; I kept the Au24 and sold the AZ...Both fine cables.

Thank You very much guys!